I was recentlly disqualified as a blood doner because at two donations in a row, I had the following Hep B test results:

Hep B Surfance antigen (NonReactive)
Hep B Core Antibody (Reactive)

Two months prior to these results, I gave blood with no issues.

It is my understanding that I was exposes to Hep B and faught off the infection and am not contagious, is that correct? I never had any symptoms.

Do you think it is necessary to visit my doctor for additional tests?

Thanks!

Response from Dr. McGovern

If you have no risk factors for HBV, I would suspect that this is a false positive test. This occurs in about 5 percent of blood donors.

You can get further testing with hepatitis B surface antibody. If this is positive, then yes you were exposed and cleared the infection.

However, I suspect it will be negative, and you have isolated core HB antibody - probably a false positive in your case.

You should also have a fractionation of your core antibody into IgM and IgG components to be certain that you don't have acute hepatitis since you were recently negative. Without risk factors, I think the chance of this is extremely slim - but it is the usual evaluation of a new core antibody positive status. If your liver function tests are normal, again this is far fetched.

Enjoy the holidays and don't worry about this - just get the follow up testing to be certain. I vote for a false positive test.

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